Excellent Photoshop and Web design tutorials.

I don't normally recommend tutorial type sites, though there are several I follow. My favorite Photoshop tutorial site has started a new web design tutorial site, and they've started it off with an impressive list of design tutorials. If you do any web design work, this is well worth a read.

NETTUTS

The original Photoshop site is here:
PSDTUTS

Cargo bikes are cool.

When I was in Peru last year, we saw tons of these cool cargo bikes.

If I could have shipped one home, I would have. Seeing the prices of these, I wish I had ordered one. Super cool though. Treehugger has a review of several high end cargo bikes here.

Casio Exilim EX-F1 Slow-Mo Super Cam

I love my Cameras, and love taking pictures. I thought I had an awesome pairing, but now I want a trio. I have a Canon Digital Rebel SLR, a great camera with several lenses. I also have a Pentax waterproof camera, a great little camera for on the river, that takes great pictures on land and fits in a pocket. Gizmodo has a review out of the Casio Exilim camera, which makes me want a third. It's main claim to fame, super slow-mo pictures. Up to 1200 frames per second. I can't imagine that, but even 60 FPS is awesome. I'd love to take shots of my friends running a waterfall, and getting full resolution shots for the every inch of the drop. Check out the videos of them blending a tomato.

A detailed review full of "I want it" goodness here:
Casio Exilim EX-F1 Slow-Mo Super Cam Full Review (Verdict: Totally Unique, Shockingly Powerful)

30 electric cars available now or soon...

I was talking about electric cars just yesterday. They still have many limitations, cost, range and charging times. But they are getting close. I could see my wife and I sharing an electric car and a conventional car or hybrid. Use the electric for much of the day to day stuff, the hybrid or conventional for longer trips. If there was an electric car with the room and drivability of our Honda Fit, for less than 20K, I'd strongly consider it. Venture Beat blog has a seemingly comprehensive list of electric car manufactures:
30 electric cars companies ready to take over the road » VentureBeat

VW finishes development of BlueTDI; 60 mpg Jetta coming to U.S. this summer - AutoblogGreen

Diesel cars are on the rise. A 60 MPG Jetta Wagon could be my next car...

VW finishes development of BlueTDI; 60 mpg Jetta coming to U.S. this summer - AutoblogGreen

Google is the worlds #1 Brand...

As a student of brands, the web, free tools, and marketing, I find it amazing and simultaneously not suprising that Google is the worlds #1 Brand, according to Millward Brown. They define the value of the brand as "Brand Value is the financial value of a brand, defined as the sum of all earnings that a brand is expected to generate." Even more remarkable, they are a brand that gives away much of their product. Read the full report - BrandZ-2008-Report.pdf (application/pdf Object)

I started thinking about the Google services I use frequently, and it's an impressive list (listed in rough order that I use them).

Gmail
Free

Blogger
Free (mostly, I pay to have the custom domain)

Bookmarks
Free

Notebook
Free

Calendar
Free

Search
Free

AdWords
Pays me

Google Maps (on the computer and my phone)
Free

Picassa
Free

Picassa Web Albums
Free

Google Talk
Free

Google Groups
Free

Google Documents
Free

Goog-411
Free

SketchUp
Free

YouTube
Free

Groups
Free



Something makes me think I'm missing a few. Impressive.

For a full list of available Google Products, click here.

Using the power of crowds for bicycling and commuting

No hybrid will ever match the efficiency of a bike for getting around, I've been an avid cyclist since I was 13 or so. But finding good routes can be difficult. Bikely uses the power of crowds to develop a database of bicycle routes, with descriptions, that are mapped on Google maps. Pretty sweet.

Bikely

Craigslist Image Preview in Firefox

This tool combines two tools I really like, and makes them easier to use. I shop and sell and recycle on Craigslist. There is a firefox extension that displays the images from with the ads, without having to click on the links. Looking for a bike or a car? Scroll quickly and see what looks like what you are looking for. Simply, but super effective. I used it recently while shopping for a tandem bike, and it worked super well.

Get it here

Google now predicts the future. Not a Joke.

Ok, so it's only future traffic patterns, but still, pretty damn cool.

In about 30 markets, when you look at Google Maps, and click on the "traffic" button, it will show you current traffic patterns. But look for the button to change the time, and you can change the day of the week and time of day, and Google will tell you what traffic to expect.

Of course, it uses past data to predict based on patterns, so a wreck or other anomaly would not be included, but it would allow you to see whether there are patterns in traffic, and perhaps reroute.

Pretty cool. Now if only this would be incorporated into a car based GPS, and done in real time to calculate the best route. Imagine if Google plotted your route, but knew that a certain area got slow at 5:25 every evening, and your route would take you past there, so it re-routed. That'd be cool.

maps.google.com

Magic Pen - Cool Physics game

Ok, so this is outside of the normal stuff I'd put on this blog, but this is a super addictive little web based physics game. Give it a try.
http://magic.pen.fizzlebot.com/